Blog:Some Jag-LR thoughts

I’ve had a few conversations on this subject today, so here are a few thoughts/questions that have arisen:

If a third party (private equity company) can come in and be brutal with cost to make Jaguar-Land Rover combined more profitable (eg by reducing the manufacturing footprint) then why wouldn’t Ford, or another industry player fancy taking that on? Is it that Ford doesn’t want the industrial relations grief involved?

And would another carmaker and potential buyer prefer to have professional ‘bad cops’ taking the flak and also be prepared to pay a premium for that – in terms of the likely higher price in a few years time?

How much is Ford supplying to Jaguar and Land Rover in terms of engines and parts?

Would Ford want a stake in a future J-LR combine – like Daimler has taken with Chrysler Group?

What is the timescale for this process now? Four weeks and then a ‘winner’ is announced?

Is no-sale still really an option, as is being maintained by Ford’s PR people? We seem suddenly to be on an escalator, media puff or not…

The writing was probably on the wall for Jaguar and Land Rover when Ford made that recent announcement that it was going back to a global platform strategy. But the signals at that time were not stron...